By Nicole Weatherholtz | Thursday, 16 April 2026 05:54 PM EDT
President Donald Trump said Thursday he convened a meeting to address alarming, unconfirmed reports of missing and deceased nuclear scientists, describing the situation as “pretty serious stuff.”
“I just left a meeting on that subject,” Trump told reporters, underscoring growing concern within the scientific community.
The reports center on deaths and disappearances involving experts in nuclear, defense, and space-related fields, though officials have yet to confirm any direct links between cases. Recent reports highlight the 2023 death of veteran NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist Michael David Hicks, noting that no official cause of death was disclosed.
Hicks is one of at least nine American experts in sensitive national security-related areas whose deaths or disappearances have raised concerns.
“I hope it’s random, but we’re going to know in the next week and a half,” Trump said, adding that “some of them were very important people.”
The president’s remarks come as the White House signals it may take a closer look at the matter. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated Wednesday that the administration is prepared to seek answers.
“I haven’t spoken to our relevant agencies about it. I will certainly do that, and we’ll get you an answer,” Leavitt told reporters. “If true, of course, that’s definitely something this government would deem worth looking into.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., said last month his attempts to obtain information about the scientists were blocked by some U.S. intelligence agencies.
“The numbers seem very high in these certain areas of research,” Burchett stated previously. “I think we’d better be paying attention, and I don’t think we should trust our government.”
Burchett noted that several scientists have disappeared under suspicious circumstances, referencing ongoing discussions about UFO phenomena.
Retired Air Force Gen. William Neil McCasland, 68, who commanded the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, vanished on February 27 in New Mexico. McCasland was also associated with the UFO community.
Rocket scientist Monica Reza, 60, who had ties to McCasland, disappeared last June while hiking with two friends in Angeles National Forest.
Burchett reiterated his concern: “I think we ought to be paying attention to it.”
